Daily Rambings:
Dylan's Doings ...09/08/2004 b
It's interesting to note just how many pots Bob has had boiling of late - including projects being undertaken by others about him. There is the Todd Haynes project, which seems to have a title in progress of I'm Not There: Suppositions On A Film Concerning Dylan (that'll get them lining up at the box office). Dylan has apparently given Haynes free rein to use any music he cares to - and Haynes is certainly not restraining himself - if the fact that he's using a never-released bootleg recording (I'm Not There) is any guide. Can't imagine Bob being a fan of that mumbled, stoned recording of his from 1966 ...
There is the Martin Scorsese project, apparently still planned for release next year. Bob has also of-course cooperated with Scorsese on that, giving a lengthy interview on camera.
There is of-course Chronicles, his own autobiography, due out on October 12th of this year.
Just last year he had his own major motion picture in theaters, Masked & Anonymous. Curiously, even though he was understood to have cowritten this film with just one other person, and he was the star, he didn't do a single minute's worth of promotion for it (think about that). The director Larry Charles said in an interview at some point that he expressed his concern to Bob that some scene or piece of dialogue would be misinterpreted by viewers. Dylan replied to the effect of, "What's wrong with being misinterpreted?"
The Christoper Ricks book, Dylan's Visions Of Sin, was a major take on Bob's ouevre, and Ricks thanks Dylan's people in the book's acknowledgements for giving him, again, free rein to quote at will and at length.
Another notable recent Dylan happening was his appearance in the Victoria's Secret commercial. Neither he nor his people made any comment whatsoever on why he chose not only to allow the use of his song, Lovesick, in the commercial, but actually acted in it (not to mention allowing his hat to be thrown violently to the floor).
Dylan also gave a major interview to Robert Hillburn of the LA Times, on the subject of his songwriting craft. Hillburn indicates that they spoke on the record for hours - it seems safe to assume that he will be using the material for something greater than this newspaper article - maybe a book on Dylan, or on songwriting in general?
Now there is also a report that director and choreographer Twyla Tharp has been in discussions with Dylan about putting together a Broadway musical using his songs - discussions said to have been initiated by Bob himself.
And will the reports from last year about Dylan appearing as a guest judge and songwriter on American Idol prove true?
I string all these things together not just to show how active Bob is being these days - not bad for a 63 year old who is also almost constantly on tour - but also because it suggests to me that Bob is enjoying having different people come at his work from different angles. He's not too worried about what perspectives the likes of Haynes, Ricks, Scorsese and others will have. He's not too worried about being misinterpreted - or even about being condemned for becoming a lingerie salesman. You have to assume in fact that he is actively amused by people being off-balance, and unable to nail down exactly where he's coming from. Not a new thing, maybe - he's always surprised and sometimes horrified certain people with his own work - but the pace of all these things at the moment indicate that he's really having fun with it.
And so it is also somewhat in that spirit that I'm offering the take on Dylan's work that this site represents. Perhaps in the very unlikely event that Bob were ever to be aware of it, it might just give him an additional chuckle.
Take-off ... 09/08/2004
Having fiddled around for a few weeks, I'm now considering this site launched. Right Wing Bob is ready for his close-up.
The real Donald returns ... 09/07/2004
I for one have missed Rummy. His press conference today was a reminder of how he can cut to the quick with a clarity so utterly lacking in average government officials.
Q: To go back to your opening, could you explain how the terrorist actions at the school in Russia are related to the United States, other than the fact of terrorism being used? Do you see any direct connection? Do you see any direct threat?
SEC. RUMSFELD: I'll leave that to the intelligence community. And maybe you want to comment on it. (Referring to General Myers.)
But what we've seen there -- we've seen the videos of Saddam Hussein's regime chopping off people's heads and hands and pushing them off buildings. We've seen recently beheadings in Iraq. We know what took place by the Taliban in Afghanistan prior to the removal of the Taliban and the al Qaeda from that country. And we're seeing -- we've seen the attacks in Turkey and Tunisia and Morocco and Spain and Indonesia, in country after country. What we saw in Russia was another instance in a long line of instances dating back, if you want to, at least in recent memory, to the Marine barracks in 1983, and then the embassy bombings in the '90s, and the USS Cole. This is not something that's new. UBL declared war on the Untied States back in the '90s, according to the U.S. intelligence community.
But what we saw last week was a very gripping, vivid example of the extremes to which terrorists will go, and are not only willing to go, but do in fact go and are going. They are doing these things today. This is a global struggle between extremists and people who want to be left alone to live free lives and free systems, and they're opposed to that. And it's important that the world understand that and that what's taking place in Iraq and what's taking place in Afghanistan and what's taking place in Russia are examples of the fact that there are people determined to alter the behavior of the rest of the world and how they live their lives and to terrorize them into doing that, and to terrorize them by doing the most extreme things they can think of. And that's what's taking place.
As Right Wing Bob might say:
Dylan, Dubya, what's the difference? ... 09/05/2004
Is Bob Dylan the same as George W. Bush? Enquiring liberal minds want to know.
Already, without even trying, Right Wing Bob is spreading confusion in the mind of the enemy.
Of Particular Interest To Dylan Fans ... 08/18/2004
Those who have followed the chronicle of "Chronicles," the mooted autobiography of Bob Dylan, first publicized in 2001, will be utterly shocked to see the publishing date moved forward to October 12th, 2004 - after having resided at "January 2005" for this long time past. Amazon UK gives that date, and also provides this delightful preview:
Synopsis
This is the first spellbinding volume of the autobiography of a musical and political icon. Circa 1965, arguably the high point of his creative genius, Bob Dylan writes on the beginnings of his music career, his loves - including his very first date - and offers a very personal, anecdotal view of this time of great creativity, innovation and music history. Bob Dylan's autobiography is a publishing and cultural event of the highest magnitude.Zimmy writes about his first date! Truly, a kiss and tell autobio that has the stars and starlets quaking in their underwear.
What's truly amazing is that anyone thinks that this will be a chronological and confessional-type narrative - and that that is the only way they can think to promote it.
Kerry Hits Bush On 7 Minute Gap ... 08/05/2004
John F. Kerry, currently campaigning to be America's second black President, today took the current occupant of the White House to task for his actions on September 11th, 2001. Discussing the 7 minutes during which President Bush remained in a classroom full of children after hearing of the second plane crash into the WTC (well known thanks to the work of popular movie-maker Michael Moore), John F. Kerry stated that had he been President he would have "jumped into action more quickly."
In so saying he echoes the many bipartisan observers and experts who have lamented how the President badly misplayed those crucial moments. It is believed that the events of the day could have been fundamentally altered, and much tragedy averted, if the President had not waited till that children's story was read all the way to the end. In particular, the President is thought to have missed a perfect opportunity to change into his superman suit, fly out of the window of that Florida schoolhouse, head full speed for lower Manhattan, and hold up the twin towers with his bare hands, thus providing the maximum time for all those below the impact points to make their escape.
The President's spokesman, Mark McClellan, has disputed this, claiming that since no one knew the buildings were going to collapse so quickly, President Bush would most likely instead have spent his time plucking victims two by two from burning floors, and whisking them to ground level. This would have had only a negligible effect on the final casualty toll.
The 9/11 Commission did not come to any conclusion about the President's apparent reluctance to use his super powers during this time.
Right Wing Bob sez:
Original text copyright © 2004 by RightWingBob.com
Quotes from the works of others are linked to their source or are as otherwise attributed, and are used in accordance with Fair Use guidelines. Contact: rightwingbob(at)gmail.com
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